Ukraine

During a trip to Damascus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two countries agreed to work together to provide ‘more security and opportunities for development for our societies’.

The leaders of Ukraine and Syria have pledged greater security cooperation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Kyiv offers its military expertise to governments across the Middle East region amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Zelenskyy held talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, in his first trip to the Syrian capital since former leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in 2024.

Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram that the leaders agreed to work together to provide “more security and opportunities for development for our societies”.

“There is a great interest in exchanging military and security experience,” he said.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran and its allied groups have attacked US and Israeli targets, as well as targets in Gulf countries, using a range of missiles and drones.

Ukraine, which has developed expertise in countering drone attacks in its more than four-year war with Russia, has offered its country’s expertise during Zelenskyy’s visits to countries in the region, and has sent teams to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

During his visit to the Gulf states last week, Zelenskyy signed long-term military cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Syria is not known to have any air defences capable of dealing with Iranian drones or missiles.

Zelenskyy also told al-Sharaa that Kyiv was a reliable grain supplier and said the two leaders “discussed joint opportunities to strengthen food security across the region”,

According to Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry on X, the country’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, also met Zelenskyy in Damascus on Sunday, as well as his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani and Ukraine’s Andrii Sybiha.

The meeting with foreign ministers came a day after Zelenskyy visited Turkiye, met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on “new steps” in security cooperation, and discussed joint gas infrastructure projects and gasfield developments.

Russian air attacks on northeast Ukraine over the past 24 hours have killed at least four people and injured 11 others, according to Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv’s regional governor.

Syniehubov said on Saturday that the attacks targeted the city of Kharkiv and 11 other towns and villages.

Also in northeastern Ukraine, at least 11 people, including a child, were injured after a Russian drone struck a building in the region of Sumy in an overnight attack.

“Attack drones struck a 16-storey building and a private residential area [in the region of Sumy]. Residents of the burning high-rise were promptly evacuated … The fire has been extinguished,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine’s press office said in a statement.

“Law enforcement officers are documenting the aftermath of the shelling, recording the damage and gathering evidence of war crimes,” reported Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that the defence forces had “shot down or neutralised” 260 of 286 Russian drones fired towards the “north, south, east and centre of the country” in overnight attacks.

It added that 11 drones “were recorded striking 10 locations” with debris from the downed drones found at “six locations”.

Meanwhile in Russia, at least one person was killed and four others injured in drone and missile attacks in its southern Rostov region, according to its governor.

The overnight attack took place in the port city of Taganrog, Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram.

Slyusar said that the injured people – three of whom were Russians and one foreign national – were in “critical condition”.

A missile also struck a “commercial facility”, said Slyusar, causing a fire to break out on the premises. People were evacuated and the fire was brought under control, he said.

Separately, falling drone debris hit a foreign-flagged cargo vessel in the Sea of Azov, causing a fire, while air defences destroyed drones over Taganrog Bay and other districts, said Slyusar, who did not specify the origin of the attacks.

The Sea of Azov, an economic lifeline connecting Russia and Ukraine, acts as a key shipping route for industrial cargo.

Stalled diplomacy

Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine that started in February 2022 continue to stall.

The United States, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of high-level, trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi and Switzerland’s Geneva this year in a bid to negotiate an end to the war.

A fourth round of talks due to take place last month was postponed due to the US-Israel war on Iran, with no progress on the vital question of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed an Easter truce, which Russia’s foreign ministry had rejected, dismissing it as a “PR stunt”.

As its price for peace, Russia is insisting that Ukraine cede the fifth of the eastern area of Donbas that it has been unable to conquer during four years of war, with Zelenskyy refusing to countenance the prospect, which in any case goes against the country’s constitution.

Kyiv believes it can keep defending its remaining “fortress belt” of industrial towns and cities in the Donbas for years, citing the glacial pace of Russia’s front-line advances since 2023 as its soldiers run into a defensive wall of Ukrainian drones.

April 2 (UPI) — At least five people were killed and 11 injured in large-scale Russian strikes across Ukraine involving more than 360 drones, Ukrainian authorities said.

One person was killed and two injured, one of them a 12-year-old boy, in the southeastern city of Synelnykove, after drone and artillery strikes across Dnipropetrovsk province overnight.

In an online post, Dnipropetrovsk Military Administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said that an administrative building and a shopping complex were set ablaze in Synelnykove as well as infrastructure, a dozen apartment buildings and private houses and buses in a series of strikes also targeting Pavlohrad and communities to the south in and around Nikopol.

Four people were killed and four injured on both banks of the Dnipro River in Cherkasy province, some 80 miles downstream from Kyiv, amid mass daytime attacks on Wednesday centered on central and western Ukraine.

The fatalities occurred in a blast in the Zolotoniskyi district after local residents gathered in an open area where a drone had crashed and the warhead detonated without warning.

Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a Telegram post that it had launched a pre-trial investigation into the attack as a possible war crime and reiterated warnings to people to stay well away from downed drones, drone debris and other munitions.

“Law enforcement agencies and rescue services once again emphasize: any fragments of UAVs, missiles, or other explosive objects pose a mortal threat. WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW: It is strictly forbidden to: approach the crash site of a UAV; touch the debris; photograph or film them up close; carry any parts of the object,” the prosecutor’s office added.

Four civilians were injured in air attacks on Cherkasy district, three of them passengers on a bus that was struck by debris from a Russian drone, said the province’s governor, Ihor Taburets.

In Poltava, 125 miles to the east, four people, including a child, were injured when a drone hit a private holding and one person was injured in attacks targeting critical infrastructure facilities in the far west of Ukraine, close to the border with Romania in Zakarpattia province.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported hundreds of drones crossing into Ukraine from the southeast, headed toward western regions, including Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi with blasts heard in Lviv and Ternopil and damage reported in the cities of Lutsk, Khmelnytskyi and Khotyn in Volyn, Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi provinces.

Khotyn Mayor Andrii Dranchukon took to social media Thursday morning to call on residents to limit their electricity use to essential purposes, saying damage to power infrastructure from drones would take up to two weeks to repair and pledging assistance to people whose homes had sustained damage.

At a time when Ukraine’s air defense expertise is being sought by Arab nations under fire from Iranian missiles and drones, Kyiv announced its new experimental concept for battling Russian drones is having some positive results. The system relies on the private sector to provide its own air defenses by using Ukrainian interceptor drones and other short-range air defense weapons, under the command and control of the military.

Whether this would be applicable beyond Ukraine is debatable, but officials in Kyiv see private sector air defense as an important move to help spread its burden of defending the skies against ceaseless Russian barrages. Russia has been taking particular aim at Ukraine’s remaining industrial capacity, especially defense-related firms that make drones, missiles and other weapons systems. The constant attacks are a large reason why the country has tried to decentralize production, but not everything can be built in a distributed fashion.

The goal of the program is to take advantage of Ukraine’s large production of counter-Shahed interceptor drones as well as its indigenous automated anti-drone machine gun turrets. By having volunteers operate these systems, it reduces the need to pull troops from the frontlines, officials say. 

“The experimental project launched by the Government to involve the private sector in the air defense system is already being implemented and yielding initial results,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated on Telegram Monday morning. “One of the companies participating in the project has already prepared its own air defense group. As of today, several enemy drones have been shot down in the Kharkiv region, including Shahed and Zala models.”

Fedorov did not identify the company, but said another 13 are in various states of gearing up to take part.

“As of now, all groups are at different stages of preparation,” Fedorov wrote. “Some are already performing combat tasks, others are undergoing training, and the rest are completing their preparations and will soon strengthen the country’s air defense.”

Private air defense systems “are integrated into a single management system of the Armed Forces Air Force and are already operating within it – protecting objects and participating in the interception of Shaheds,” Fedorov explained. “This is a systemic solution that allows for quickly scaling air defense capabilities without additional burden on frontline units.”

Fedorov did not say which weapons are being used by the private companies, but a video he posted on X of claimed successful engagements shows the use of the Sky Sentinel automated air-defense turrets, equipped with a heavy machine gun and capable of 360° rotation. An official contacted by The War Zone said the Wild Hornet Sting interceptors are being used as well.

The creation of the private sector air defense program was announced earlier this month by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. In a media release, she explained that critical infrastructure enterprises, regardless of whether publicly or privately owned, can create air defense groups.

These groups must undergo training and certification by the MoD and will use weapons and ammunition temporarily transferred from the ministry.

“This concerns weapons that are not currently used by combat units,” Svyrydenko noted. “In the event of the use of ammunition, replenishment will be carried out according to a simplified procedure based on an act of actual expenses.”

Ukraine has been developing these weapons and programs because Russia’s launching of thousands of Shaheds and other drones and missiles has depleted its stocks of high-end interceptors like those fired by Patriot and other systems. This has not been lost on leaders of nations now under fire by Iranian drones and missiles.

Fedorov’s announcement about the private sector air defense program comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrapped up a tour of the Middle East. While there, the Ukrainian leader said he inked defense cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, and had discussions with Jordan.

Zelensky did not announce specific commercial drone sales, “but said talks touched on financial support from Gulf nations that could help Ukraine bridge a delay in European funding after Hungary blocked a 90 billion euro loan package,” The New York Times noted. In addition, Zelensky told reporters that he had also discussed future Ukrainian purchases of energy from the Middle East as Ukraine’s own natural gas industry had been battered by Russian strikes.

“The agreement includes collaboration in technological fields, development of joint investments and the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems,” Qatar’s defense ministry said in a statement during Zelensky’s visit.

When it comes to interceptor drones like Sting, Ukraine has enough to spare should its government sign off on providing them.

Ukraine could export about $2 billion worth of weapons as a whole this year, excluding ​joint production ventures with allies, suggested Ihor Fedirko, CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry, a manufacturers’ association.

Ukraine produced 40,000 interceptor drones in January, according to the government, which has made it clear the country will not export any weapons it needs ‌to defend itself, as we noted in a story on Ukrainian laws preventing direct exports of interceptors and other weapons.

“Zelensky says that provided enough financing, Ukraine has the capacity to up its production to 2,000 interceptor drones a day and would only need 1,000 for itself, leaving plenty for export,” Reuters noted.

Відео 100 збиттів шахедів перехоплювачем #STING #wildhornets #дикішершні #fpv

It is unknown whether the concept of private sector air defenses came up in Zelensky’s talks in the Middle East. However, countries in that region are facing threats similar to Ukraine, with energy infrastructure, data centers and other non-military facilities that likely have limited, if any air defenses, protecting them.

“The Ukrainian model does not surprise me,” retired Army Col. David Shank, who served as Commandant of the Air Defense Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, told us. “Other countries have private security forces, some which possess hand-held [counter-drone] capabilities. The U.S. State Department has private security that also possesses capability (up to Stinger I am told).”

The challenge, said Shank, “is system management and command and control of all sensors and shooters.

It is possible the Gulf states could execute a system where companies provide their own air defenses, however, “it would still require strict adherence to authorities.”

Still, Shank sees several downsides, including fratricide, wasted ammunition and a lack of unity of effort from decentralized execution.

Retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who commanded U.S. Central Command, raised another concern.

“While it would be up to Arab nations to decide for themselves if this is a good idea, I do think it will complicate integration with partners, including the U.S,” he told us.

Regardless, the Ukrainian program is in its infancy. There is still a long way to go before it establishes its value as a valid means of protecting factories, electric generation plants and refineries against Russian drones. It could turn out to be more destructive than helpful.

However, given Ukraine’s history of battlefield innovation, there will likely be many parties looking to see how it all works out.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

The Ukrainian leader’s visit comes after Kyiv agreed to cooperate on defence with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Jordan as he continues his tour to bolster defence ties in the Gulf amid the ongoing United States and Israeli war on Iran.

Zelenskyy announced his arrival in a post on X on Sunday and stated that an “important meeting” was going to take place.

“Today in Jordan. Security is the top priority, and it is important that all partners make the necessary efforts toward it,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president has been seeking support from the Gulf states as the Russia-Ukraine war continues, with no end in sight. More than four years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion, Kyiv is struggling to cover its budget deficit and fund domestic weapons production.

Still, Ukraine has intensified retaliatory attacks on Russian infrastructure, including refineries, oil depots and ports, arguing that they were justified targets to sever revenues funding Russia’s offensive.

On Sunday, a drone strike that Ukraine claimed triggered a fire at Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga, which was hit for the second time in several days.

According to the Russian regional governor, Alexander Drozdenko, damage was sustained at the port, the fire is now under control, and there were no casualties from the attack.

He added that 36 drones were destroyed overnight in the region.

But Zelenskyy’s visit comes after Ukraine has agreed to cooperate on defence with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Kyiv’s anti-drone experts have also been deployed to all three countries as Iran targets infrastructure there using drones that Russia has also used during its war with Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official told the AFP news agency, on condition of anonymity, that a Ukrainian team is also in Jordan, without elaborating.

In repelling the drones, Ukraine uses a mix of cheap drone interceptors, electronic jamming tools, and anti-aircraft guns.

Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations.

Qatar and Ukraine have signed a defence agreement seeking joint expertise on countering threats from missiles and drones, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Defence, as Iran continues attacking its Gulf neighbours.

The agreement was made on Saturday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Doha, following his stop in the UAE earlier in the day.

Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates had also agreed to cooperate on defence, a day after signing a deal with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom on Thursday.

Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations and has deployed anti-drone experts to the three countries Zelenskyy visited during his diplomatic tour.

Tehran insists it is targeting only US assets in the Gulf in retaliation for the US-Israeli war on Iran, but the assaults have upset relations as Gulf nations say civilians are being put at risk.

During the Ukrainian leader’s visit to Doha on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani met Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) Rustem Umerov, and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrii Hnatov.

“The agreement includes collaboration in technological fields, development of joint investments and the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems,” Qatar’s Defence Ministry said in a statement during Zelenskyy’s visit.

The officials discussed the latest security developments. The defence agreement was signed by Qatari Armed Forces Lieutenant General Jassim bin Mohammed Al Mannai, and on the Ukrainian side by Hnatov, in the presence of the other officials.

“Ukraine is offering a cheap way of countering Iranian drones. Ukraine has been doing that for the past three and a half years because Russia has been firing Shahed drones since September 2023 at least, and it’s been downing them nearly every day,” said Al Jazeera’s Dmitry Medvedenko, reporting from Doha.

“The Gulf has been using Patriot and THAAD missiles primarily so far to down Iranian missiles and drones. Each Patriot missile costs almost $4m, while Ukraine is offering its expertise in downing drones for about $2,000 each.”

Decade-long cooperation

Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of sophisticated, battlefield-proven drone interceptors as Russia has been attacking Kyiv with hundreds of thousands of Iranian drones since the start of its full-scale invasion of the neighbouring country in 2022.

On March 18, Zelenskyy said 201 anti-drone experts had been deployed to the Middle East.

Kyiv has proposed swapping its interceptors for the vastly more expensive air-defence missiles that Gulf countries are using to down Iranian drones. Kyiv says it needs more of them to fend off near-daily Russian missile attacks.

“What we can assume is that Ukraine is primarily interested in funding,” said Medvedenko.

He said that the US-Israeli war on Iran is “costing so many Patriot missiles”, which concerns Ukraine as its stocks will decline.

The Patriots are “a much better solution” for countering Russia’s ballistic missiles, he said.

On Thursday, in a video message to the Joint Expeditionary Force, a security alliance which held a summit meeting in Helsinki, Zelensky said: “The key is not only producing new weapons – especially drones – not just technology, but also real experience in using it, and integrating it with radars, aviation, and other air defence systems. We have this experience,” he added.

“A bit” is what United States President Donald Trump thinks about the scale of Russia’s military aid to Iran.

Moscow “might be helping them a bit”, he told Fox News on March 13.

A day later, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated laconically that Moscow’s military cooperation with Tehran was “good”.

His words seemed to confirm earlier media reports that Russia is providing Iran with satellite and intelligence data on the locations of US warships and aircraft.

It may not sound like much, given the superiority of Western military satellites and Russia’s battlefield losses and communication problems after Elon Musk’s SpaceX company switched off smuggled Starlink satellite Internet terminals.

But data on US military assets Iran is receiving most likely comes from Liana, Moscow’s only fully functional system of spy satellites, according to an expert on Russia’s space programme and military.

“The [Liana] system has been created to spy on US carrier strike groups and other navy forces and for identifying them as targets,” Pavel Luzin, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank, told Al Jazeera.

Eyes in the sky

Russia also played a key role in the development of Iran’s space programme and its key satellite, the Khayyam.

Launched in 2022 from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome, the 650kg (1,430 pound) satellite orbits the Earth at 500 kilometres (310 miles) and has a resolution of one metre (3.3 feet).

Moscow “can, in theory, receive and process data from Iran’s optical imaging satellite and share data from its own several satellites”, Luzin said.

On Wednesday, Tehran claimed to have struck the Abraham Lincoln carrier with multiple cruise and ballistic missiles, but the Pentagon called the claim “pure fiction”.

On Sunday, Iranian media claimed that a “massive blaze” was caused by a strike on a US destroyer refuelling in the Indian Ocean.

Washington did not comment on that strike.

Russia has, for decades, supplied weaponry to Iran, including advanced air defence systems, trainer and fighter jets, helicopters, armoured vehicles and sniper rifles, worth billions of dollars.

Since Washington and Tel Aviv began their strikes on February 28, Russia has continued aiding Iran with “intelligence, data, experts and components” for weaponry, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera.

While Moscow and Tehran loudly proclaim their strategic partnership, they do not have a mutual defence clause, and Moscow has not intervened in the conflict directly.

But the arms supplies have been mutual. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Tehran has provided Moscow with ammunition and artillery shells, firearms and short-range ballistic missiles, helmets and flak jackets.

Drones with ‘comets’

And then there are the Shahed kamikaze drones – slow, noisy, yet cheap to manufacture – which have been launched on Ukrainian cities in swarms of dozens and then hundreds. Ukraine became so adept at bringing these down – now mass-producing cheap interceptor systems specifically to target Shaheds – that it is now providing its own know-how to Gulf states where US military assets have come under fire from Iran in recent weeks.

In the course of its war with Ukraine, Moscow has manufactured and modernised Shaheds, making them faster and deadlier, and equipping them with cameras, navigators and, occasionally, artificial intelligence modules.

And now, some of the upgrades have made their way back to Iran.

A Shahed drone with a pivotal Russian component launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah from southern Lebanon was able to hit a British airbase on Cyprus on March 1, the UK’s Times newspaper reported on March 7.

It reportedly contained Kometa-B (Comet B), a Russian-made satellite navigation module that also acts as an anti-jamming shield, making drones more resistant to interference.

Russia has also perfected the tactic of sending waves of real and decoy drones to exhaust and overwhelm Western-supplied air defence systems in Ukraine.

These days, the scheme helps Iran hit targets in the Gulf, Western officials say.

“I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics and potentially some of their capabilities as well,” British Defence Secretary John Healey said on March 12 after Iranian drones struck a base used by Western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.

However, if Iran is suffering a shortage of drones – as some analysts believe it is – that would render the use of Russian tactics, as well as Russia-supplied satellite data useless, experts say.

“Russia does supply data, it’s obvious, the data helps Iran, but not much,” Nikita Smagin, a Russian expert who has written extensively on ties between Moscow and Tehran, told Al Jazeera.

After four days of intensive strikes using up to 250 drones a day in early March, Iran has been launching only up to 50 drones a day, according to Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University.

“Iran ran out of steam really fast,” he told Al Jazeera.

‘A goodwill gesture’

Moreover, Moscow is not necessarily particularly interested in an Iranian military victory, as the war is benefitting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own conflict in Ukraine.

Skyrocketing oil prices make “Putin financially capable of further hostilities,” Lieutenant General Romanenko said.

As Iran strangles shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the price of Brent crude – the international benchmark – has soared past $100 a barrel in the past three weeks. US President Donald Trump was forced to temporarily suspend sanctions on shipped Russian oil to ease the economic backlash. The result has been tankers laden with Russian oil bound for China making U-turns in the open ocean to divert to India, as countries scramble to grab Russian oil cargoes out at sea. The price of Urals crude has bounced.

Putin “hasn’t achieved his goals in Ukraine and will therefore use anything, including the war [in Iran] and lies to achieve his vision, press with his ultimatums,” Romanenko said.

The Kremlin “doesn’t pursue a breakthrough in this war, doesn’t help Iran break the United States and Israel,” Ruslan Suleymanov, an associate fellow at the New Eurasian Strategies Center, a US-British think tank, told Al Jazeera.

The current intelligence and military aid is “more of a goodwill gesture, an attempt to create an illusion of help, to show Tehran that despite the lack of formal commitments, Russia doesn’t leave its friend in need”, he said.

And Tehran fully understands how insufficient Moscow’s aid is – and therefore relies on its own stratagem of expanding hostilities to the entire region through strikes on neighbouring states and of crippling the global economy with soaring oil prices.

“Iranians understand that the forces are not equal and it’s impossible to defeat the United States and Israel on the battlefield, and no Russian aid is going to help,” he said.

It seems that Trump’s assessment that Moscow “might be helping them a bit” may not be too far wide of the mark.

Some 450,000 people without electricity in Belgorod region, while power cut off for 150,000 consumers ‌in ​Chernihiv.

Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other’s energy facilities in tit-for-tat attacks, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, officials from both countries said, as the world’s attention has shifted to the US-Israel war on Iran.

Nearly half a ⁠million people were left without electricity in Russia’s Belgorod region, while 150,000 consumers ‌in the city of Chernihiv and surrounding areas were without power on Wednesday.

The electricity distribution company in Ukraine’s northern ⁠Chernihiv region said on Wednesday that the energy facility was damaged and repair work ⁠would begin as soon as ‌the security situation allowed.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said power outages affected some 450,000 people across several districts, including the regional capital ‌of Belgorod, with many residents also facing disruption to heating and water supply. The temperature in Belgorod hovers around 0C (32F).

Gladkov said repair works have already started, but that it would ⁠take several days to complete.

Belgorod, which ⁠lies about 40⁠km (25 miles) from the border with Ukraine, has been a frequent target of ‌Ukrainian drone and missile attacks in the four years since ‌Russia ‌invaded its neighbour.

In Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, Russian ⁠attacks ⁠late on Tuesday killed ⁠one person and wounded another, emergency services said.

The ‌attack damaged a private house, sparking a fire, and caused damage to six ⁠buildings nearby. Photos posted on Telegram by emergency ⁠services showed ⁠firefighters putting out ⁠flames in a partially destroyed building.

Meanwhile, in Russia, officials said on ⁠Wednesday a Ukrainian drone attack targeting a major oil export hub sparked a fire at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga.

Alexander Drozdenko, governor of Russia’s Leningrad region, said the fire was being brought under control and that no casualties had been reported.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes over recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy.

According to Russia’s Ministry of Defence, 389 Ukrainian ‌drones were shot down across the country overnight, including over the Moscow region.

Meanwhile, Latvia, a NATO member, said ‌a drone ⁠from neighbouring Russia crashed in the country.

A Russian attack or a miscalculation involving a NATO member could prompt allies to invoke the mutual defence Article 5.

March 24 (Asia Today) — Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has told a South Korean civic group that two captured North Korean soldiers are recognized as prisoners of war and are being protected under the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs.

According to a reply disclosed Tuesday by an emergency committee campaigning for the soldiers’ transfer, the Ukrainian ministry said the men are being guaranteed contact with the outside world, access by international monitors and human rights organizations, and other protections required under international humanitarian law.

The ministry also said the principle of non-refoulement, which bars forced return to a country where a person may face harm, is being taken into account in their treatment.

The statement aligns with remarks made March 6 by South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who said he had received assurances from his Ukrainian counterpart that the soldiers would not be repatriated to North Korea or Russia. (Yonhap News)

The civic group, however, said the two men remain in a military detention facility under the authority of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and still hold legal POW status, leaving open the possibility that they could become subjects of negotiations between governments.

The group said the soldiers should be shifted from military custody to an internationally protected status. It called for their transfer to a civilian protection facility and urged direct involvement by the U.N. refugee agency, the U.N. human rights office and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

It also proposed that procedures begin to determine whether the two soldiers should receive refugee status or another form of international protection.

Photo made available by the Emergency Committee for the Free Repatriation of North Korean Soldiers shows a reply from Ukraine’s Defense Ministry regarding two captured North Korean soldiers. /Provided by the committee

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260324010007333

With US-Ukraine talks set to resume in Florida, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Russia is increasing its oil revenues through shadow fleets.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies to keep up sanctions pressure on Russia’s economy ahead of a second day of talks between Ukraine and United States officials on ways to end the more-than-four-year Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia’s representatives were not present at the talks, which opened on Saturday in Florida. They were originally expected to attend the negotiations, which had been due to take place in the United Arab Emirates, before the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The US delegation is being led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

In a post on X on Sunday, Zelenskyy called for tougher action against Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers and for it to be denied oil revenues.

“Over the past week, Russia launched nearly 1,550 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 1,260 guided aerial bombs, and two missiles. Over that same week, due to the easing of sanctions, Russia increased its crude oil sales to finance its war,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“Revenues give Russia a sense of impunity and the ability to continue the war. That is why pressure must continue, and sanctions must work. Russia’s shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters or anywhere else,” he said.

The Ukrainian president added that tankers that “serve the war budget can and must be stopped and blocked, not just let go”.

The so-called shadow fleet is a network of vessels that continue to export oil and gas despite Western sanctions due to the ongoing war with Ukraine.

Last week, the French Navy seized an oil tanker in the Western Mediterranean, which France’s President Emmanuel Macron said was part of Russia’s shadow fleet, a network of vessels used to export oil despite Western sanctions.

The shadow fleet, which has grown following Western sanctions on Russia aimed at curbing Moscow’s oil revenues, has helped to keep Russian oil exports flowing.

Talks continue

The last time the Ukrainian and Russian delegations met was in February in the Swiss city of Geneva, but no progress was made, as key issues surrounding territory remain unresolved.

Moscow has repeatedly said it will not agree to a peace deal that gives up the Ukrainian territory it has captured during the war. In contrast, Kyiv has said it will not agree to a deal that does not lead to the return of its territory.

Elements of the peace plan being promoted by the US include a presidential election in Ukraine, alongside territorial concessions.

Zelenskyy, whose term has already expired, ⁠is under renewed pressure from Trump to hold a vote ⁠as Washington pushes Kyiv towards a peace deal.

Ukrainian law bars wartime elections, but Zelenskyy has said Ukraine would be ready to hold democratic elections if the US secured a two-month ceasefire to allow time to prepare infrastructure and put security guarantees in ‌place.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says ‘clear dates’ needed as Ukrainian negotiators prepare for discussions in US.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian negotiators will push for a clear timeframe for the next round of Russia talks, as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have been paused amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv wants “clear dates – at least approximate ones” for the negotiations.

“Everyone understands that the situation in the Middle East, the war, is affecting the postponement of this date,” he said.

Zelenskyy’s comments come as Ukrainian negotiators are set to hold talks in the United States on Saturday on US-brokered attempts to reach an agreement to end the more than four-year Russia-Ukraine war.

Previous rounds of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow in Geneva and Abu Dhabi failed to yield a breakthrough.

The main sticking point has been territory, with Russia pushing for Ukraine to give up the remaining 20 percent of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian forces have failed to capture.

Kyiv has refused that demand while calling for robust security guarantees from its Western allies to prevent any other Russian attack should an agreement to end the war be reached.

“We have received signals from the US side indicating readiness to continue working within the existing negotiation formats to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Thursday.

“There has been a pause in the talks, and it is time to resume them. We are doing everything to ensure that the negotiations are genuinely substantive.”

A senior Kremlin official indicated on Friday that a new round of US-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv will likely take place soon.

“The pause is temporary, we hope it’s temporary regarding the continuation of the trilateral format,” he said.

Amid the Iran war, Ukraine’s European allies have sought to reassure Kyiv that their attention remains focused on maintaining pressure on Russia to end the war.

“There is obviously a conflict in Iran going on, in the Middle East, but we can’t lose focus on what’s going on in Ukraine and the need for our support there,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week after meeting with Zelenskyy in London.

European countries also have raised concerns about a decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to waive sanctions on some Russian oil supplies in a bid to offset soaring energy costs linked to the Iran war.

On Friday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian officials at the US talks on Saturday would discuss the recent “dangerous” decision to ease those sanctions on the Russian energy sector.

Hungarian leader sparks EU outrage with veto on $103bn Ukraine aid, citing pipeline dispute amid tense election campaign.

European Union leaders, meeting for a summit in Brussels, have piled pressure on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing him of hijacking and blocking a vital aid package for Ukraine and undermining EU decision-making as Russia’s war on its neighbour is now in its fifth year, with any peace deal remaining elusive.

The EU’s top diplomat warned on Thursday that it was urgent to show support for Ukraine’s war effort.

“It’s really, really time to show our support to Ukraine,” Kaja Kallas told reporters on arrival at EU summit talks where leaders hope to unlock the 90-billion-euro ($103bn) funding, which Hungary had signed up to in December along with the rest of the 27-member bloc.

EU leaders agreed to the $103bn loan in December, but Orban has clashed with ⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and blocked its implementation last month, citing a dispute over a war-damaged pipeline.

Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s key ally in an unfriendly bloc, has taken a stance that has angered other EU leaders, as Kyiv could run short of money in weeks if it does not receive new funding. His U-turn has called into question the credibility of the European Council, the EU’s highest decision-making body.

Several leaders arriving at the summit said Orban, who faces a difficult election next month, had to stick to the December deal and stop blocking the loan.

“He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaign, and it’s not good,” Finnish ⁠Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said, accusing Orban of betraying fellow EU leaders.

Orban, a strident right-wing nationalist admired by United States President Donald Trump, is trailing in opinion polls ahead of elections on April 12.

Part of his election campaign has been to portray Zelenskyy as an existential threat to Hungary.

At the summit, leaders ⁠are expected to point to an agreement by Zelenskyy this week to fix the Druzhba pipeline with EU technical help and funding, and to try to convince Orban to drop his opposition to the loan, diplomats say.

The pipeline carried Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and ⁠Slovakia but was damaged by a Russian attack in January, officials say. Ukraine says it will take some time to repair. Hungary says it is already ready to operate.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says Moscow and Tehran are ‘brothers in hatred’; claims Iran’s drones ‘contain Russian components’.

More than 200 Ukrainian military experts are in the Gulf region and wider Middle East helping governments in their defence against Iran’s drone attacks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

In an address to dozens of members of the United Kingdom Parliament in London on Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader said 201 Ukrainian anti-drone experts are in the region and another 34 “are ready to deploy”.

“These are military experts, experts who know how to help, how to defend against Shahed drones,” Zelenskyy said in his speech, referring to the Iranian-designed “kamikaze” drones that Russia has been using in its war against Ukraine since 2022.

“Our teams are already in the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and on the way to Kuwait,” the Ukrainian leader said.

“We are working with several other countries – agreements are already in place. We do not want this terror of the Iranian regime against its neighbours to succeed,” he said.

Last week, the Ukrainian leader said military teams had been sent to several Gulf states and Jordan.

Zelenskyy, who met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO chief Mark Rutte earlier on Tuesday, said Russia had received the Shahed-136 drones from the Iranians, who had “taught Russia how to launch them and gave it the technology to produce them”.

“Russia then upgraded them. And now we have clear evidence that Iranian Shaheds used in the region contain Russian components,” Zelenskyy said, describing the drones as designed for “low-cost destruction of expensive critical infrastructure”.

“So what is happening around Iran today is not a faraway war for us, because of the cooperation between Russia and Iran,” he said.

“The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred, and that is why they are brothers in weapons. And we want regimes built on hatred to never win – in anything,” he added.

The Ukrainian leader then addressed his country’s newly developed prowess in drone warfare and manufacturing, claiming that 90 percent of Russian losses on the front lines in Ukraine are being “caused by our drones”.

Ukraine has moved on from making sea and aerial drones to producing interceptors that target drones, he said, adding that Ukraine is capable of producing at least 2,000 interceptors per day – half of which are required for its own defence and the remainder available for use by Kyiv’s allies.

“If a Shahed needs to be stopped in the Emirates – we can do it. If it needs to be stopped in Europe or the United Kingdom – we can do it. It is a matter of technology, investment, and cooperation,” he said.

While Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of sophisticated, battlefield-proven drone interceptors, US President Donald Trump has said he does not need Ukraine’s help with countering Tehran’s drones targeting military targets in the Middle East.

After meeting with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin “can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions”.

During Zelenskyy’s visit on Tuesday, London and Kyiv signed a deal on a “defence partnership”, which is said to combine “Ukraine’s expertise and the UK’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities”.

The 900ft Arctic Metagaz, a charred Russian ghost tanker, has drifted dangerously close to Malta, an archipelago in the central Mediterranean known for its history and culture

Malta — a popular holiday hotspot — is said to be under threat of a “major ecological disaster”.

A charred Russian ghost tanker is believed to be around 50 nautical miles southwest of the island, and is drifting crewless towards the archipelago. The vessel was blitzed two weeks ago by Ukranian drones and has since, the hole-ridden 900ft Arctic Metagaz has moved towards Malta.

And now multiple European countries have warned an ecological threat is imminent. In a letter to the European Commission, seven nations said the “precarious condition of the vessel, combined with the nature of its specialised cargo” posed a “serious risk”. These countries have described the situation as a “dual challenge” – upholding maritime safety and preventing an ecological disaster against the background of EU sanctions imposed on.

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Russia claimed that Ukraine used “uncrewed sea drones” to target the Metagaz in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Malta. The Security Service of Ukraine has not responded to the accusation.

According to Russia, the attack took place on March 4 and was launched from the Libyan coast. The vessel had previously been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for being part of Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

Composed largely of ageing tankers, the fleet moves Russian oil and gas worldwide while bypassing Western restrictions. Authorities in Malta and Italy have been closely monitoring the wreck amid concerns about potential pollution. Rome said the vessel was carrying “significant quantities of gas, heavy oil, and diesel fuel.”

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WWF Italy warned in a statement: “A potential spill could cause fires, cryogenic clouds lethal to marine life, and widespread and long-lasting pollution of water and the atmosphere.”

It added: “The affected area is of exceptional ecological value, with fragile deep-sea ecosystems and some of the highest biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin.”

Salvage experts are already in Malta in preparation for the ship’s arrival in Maltese waters, while a specialist vessel is on its way, a maritime source told AFP on Sunday.

Initial reports indicated that the ship sank after explosions sparked a fire on board. Libyan authorities said the tanker went down about 130 nautical miles north of the port of Sirte. Around 30 Russians were on board the Arctic Metagaz, according to Russia’s transport ministry. They were all found “safe and sound in a lifeboat” by Malta’s armed forces, Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said.

However, Malta’s transport authority said last week that the wreck was still afloat. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation acknowledged that the vessel was drifting in the Mediterranean and said Russia’s further involvement in resolving the situation would depend on “concrete circumstances”. It added that efforts to address the situation — including surveillance, monitoring and other technical support — could risk “undermining the integrity, effectiveness and the deterrent value of the EU sanctions regime”.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the ship had no crew and was carrying 700 metric tons of various types of fuel along with “a substantial amount of natural gas”.

“The international legal norms applicable to the current situation imply the responsibility of coastal countries … for resolving the situation with the drifting vessel and preventing an environmental disaster,” Zakharova wrote.

“Further involvement by the shipowner and Russia as the flag state will depend on the specific circumstances.”

March 16 (UPI) — Kenya and Russia announced on Monday that Kenyans will no longer be recruited by the Russian military and sent to fight in Ukraine.

The move follows a Kenyan intelligence report indicating that more than 1,000 people from Kenya and other African nations in recent months have been recruited into deployment on the front lines of the war between Russia and Ukraine by “rogue” agencies participating in human trafficking.

The report, released in February, alleged that of Kenyans recruited for the war, 10 died, 28 were missing, 39 were hospitalized and others were fighting for Russia in Ukraine, The Kenyan Daily Post reported.

“We have agreed that Kenyans will no longer be enlisted for special operations through the defense ministry,” Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said during a news conference. “They will no longer be eligible to be enlisted.”

The nations also were expected to sign a labor agreement aimed at protecting Kenyans working in Russia — specifically in drone manufacturing — which will cover people working specifically for the military or for other related industries, he said.

Mudavadi told The BBC that Kenya has shut down more than 600 agencies that were lying to Kenyans about a range of possible jobs in Russia and other countries, with many ending up in Ukraine.

Russia has not given answers to relatives at its embassy in Kenya, nor has it commented on reports that human traffickers were fooling people into being enlisted in the war with lies about well-paid jobs.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the news conference that all foreign fighters, including those from Kenya, had not been coerced or lied to and their voluntary service complied with Russian law.

“Once a contract is terminated, the individual is no longer bound and is free to make their own decisions,” Lavov said, although Kenyans who have volunteered to join the war have to find and pay for their own travel home.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, alleged in November that at least 1,400 people from Africa from 36 countries have been sent to Ukraine by Russia, many of whom have been captured as prisoners of war.

Ukraine’s leader previously said advisers were sent to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to help thwart Iranian drone attacks.

Ukraine wants money and technology as payback after sending specialists to the Middle East to help down Iranian drones during the ongoing Israel-United States war with Iran.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday that three teams were sent to the region to undertake expert assessments and demonstrate how drone defences work as countries in the Middle East continue to be targeted by Iran over hosting US military bases.

“This is not about being involved in operations. We are not at war with Iran,” Zelenskyy said.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s leader announced military teams were sent to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and a US military base in Jordan.

But he explained that more long-term drone deals could be negotiated with Gulf countries, and what Kyiv gets in return for its assistance still needs to be established.

“For us today, both the technology and the funding are important,” Zelenskyy said.

Throughout the four-year Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow has widely used Iranian Shahed-136 “suicide” drones, giving Kyiv expertise in knowing how to down the unmanned aerial vehicles through cheap drone interceptors, electronic jamming tools, and anti-aircraft weaponry.

However, US President Donald Trump has said he does not need Ukraine’s help in taking down Iranian drones attacking American targets.

‘Rules must be tightened’

Zelenskyy said he doesn’t know why Washington hasn’t signed a drone agreement with Kyiv, which it has pushed for months.

“I wanted to sign a deal worth about $35bn–50bn,” he said.

Still, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues with no end in sight, Zelenskyy raised concerns that the ongoing war in the Middle East will impact Kyiv’s supplies of air defence missiles.

“We would very much not like the United States to step away from the issue of Ukraine because of the Middle East,” he told reporters.

But as interest has grown for Ukrainian drone interceptors in light of the war, Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s rules to buy the drones must be tightened, with foreign countries and firms being unable to bypass the government and talk directly to manufacturers.

“Unfortunately, representatives of certain governments or companies want to bypass the Ukrainian state to purchase specific equipment,” Zelensky told reporters.

“Even in some free countries, we do not initially receive contracts from the private sector. A contract comes to me through the political channel. Only then does the private sector start negotiating with us.”

EU maintains pressure after slamming US for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports as Middle East war bites.

The European Union has voted to renew sanctions against individuals and entities supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine, as Russian forces continued to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, killing six people in the Zaporizhia and Kyiv regions.

The EU Council announced that the bloc’s 27 member states had agreed on Saturday to extend sanctions targeting some 2,600 individuals and entities with measures like travel restrictions and asset freezes until September 15, breaking an earlier deadlock caused by Hungary and Slovakia’s opposition to the move.

The extension of sanctions came one day after EU Council chief Antonio Costa slammed the United States for lifting sanctions on Russian oil exports, saying on X that weakening restrictions increased “Russian resources to wage the war of aggression against Ukraine”, with a knock-on impact on European security.

The measure was announced as Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing five people and injuring 15 in the Kyiv region surrounding the capital, according to regional military administrator Mykola Kalashnyk.

The city of Zaporizhzhia was also hit by Russian-guided bombs, killing one person and injuring three, said the governor of the southeastern region, Ivan Fedorov. Photos posted online showed parts of buildings reduced to rubble.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s main target was energy infrastructure outside the capital Kyiv, but that the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included about 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were downed by air defences.

Russia’s winter attacks on Ukraine have left swaths of major cities without power or heating, as Moscow’s troops continue their offensive amid demands Kyiv cede more territory in the east. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Saturday that consumers in six regions were without electricity.

Ukraine’s forces have targeted Russian strategic infrastructure such as oil refineries, depots and terminals in long-range strikes. On Saturday, Ukraine’s military said that it had struck the Afipsky oil refinery and Port Kavkaz in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.

Putin ‘exploiting’ Middle East distraction

Saturday’s fighting came as the Iran conflict has distracted international attention from a US-backed peace push in the four-year war, which Kyiv says Moscow has no interest in ending.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever called on Saturday for the EU to be mandated by its member states to negotiate with Russia as it became apparent amid spiking oil prices caused by the Iran war that the US was easing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Since we are not capable of threatening Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine, and we cannot choke him economically without the support of the United States, there is only one method left: making a deal,” he told the Belgian newspaper L’Echo.

EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas has said in the past that the bloc must first reach an agreement on what is expected from Russia before directly approaching Putin, formulating its own “maximalist demands”.

However, the bloc’s inability to reach a common position was highlighted during the EU Council’s recent deliberations on extending sanctions.

Hungary and Slovakia, which have been sparring with Ukraine over blocked Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, had earlier opposed the extension of the restrictions, reportedly calling for some Russian oligarchs to be removed from the list of offenders.

Reacting earlier this week to soaring oil prices caused by the war in Iran, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged the EU to suspend sanctions on Russian energy.

Posting on X, Zelenskyy said, “Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine.”

WASHINGTON — Russia is emerging as one of the few early economic beneficiaries of the war with Iran, as disruptions to energy infrastructure drive up demand for Russian exports and the world casts its gaze to the Middle East and away from Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The U.S. and its European counterparts slapped severe sanctions on Russia in March 2022, barely a month into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The effect was a stranglehold on Russia’s exports, depriving Putin’s war effort of at least $500 billion, experts say. But over the last week, as President Trump’s war in the Middle East choked energy markets worldwide, the White House began easing its restrictions on Moscow.

“It is traitorous conduct for you to help Russia,” California Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) said on X, demanding the Trump administration reverse course. “Russia is giving intelligence info to Iran that helps Iran target American forces.”

Crude droplets rained over Tehran after Israeli airstrikes decimated oil depots, draping the Iranian capital in a dense smog. Iranian counterattacks have also targeted refineries and oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Crude oil prices have surged, and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has all but ceased, sending energy importers in search of alternate sources.

Those spikes are giving Russia, one of the world’s largest oil and gas exporters, a rare advantage. After spending a decade as the world’s most sanctioned nation over his aggression in Ukraine, Putin is finally starting to regain some leverage in global markets.

“In the current economic situation, if we refocus now on those markets that need increased supplies, we can gain a foothold there,” Putin said at a meeting at the Kremlin on Monday, according to Russian state media. “It’s important for Russian energy companies to take advantage of the current situation.”

On March 4, the Treasury Department issued a temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil. The appeal by the Trump administration was described as a way to ease demand for Mideast oil, but was criticized as a reversal of sanctions placed against Putin meant to deny him the capital needed to fund his occupation of eastern Ukraine.

Now, Moscow is poised to press that advantage further, after Trump said Monday he will further lift sanctions on oil-producing countries to ease the trade friction and reintroduce additional oil and gas supplies. The only countries with U.S. oil sanctions are Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

“So, we have sanctions on some countries. We’re going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out,” Trump said at a news conference at his golf club in Doral, Fla. “Then, who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on — they’ll be so much peace.”

The surprise concession to Moscow comes as reports suggest Russia is assisting Iran in targeting U.S. personnel.

Trump’s announcement followed an unscheduled hourlong call with Putin about the situation in the Middle East.

The war has also set the stage for Russia to make gains in Ukraine, as hostilities draw the global spotlight away from Kyiv and its struggle to hold back the bigger Russian army. U.S.-brokered talks between the two adversaries have been sidelined as Washington shifts focus to its war in Iran.

“At the moment, the partners’ priority and all attention are focused on the situation around Iran,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X. “We see that the Russians are now trying to manipulate the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region to the benefit of their aggression.”

Putin is unlikely to intervene militarily on Iran’s behalf, according to Robert English, an international foreign policy expert at USC. Instead, Putin is expected to play his position carefully, reap the economic rewards, and keep focused firmly on Ukraine at a time when key air defense systems are diverted from Ukraine to the Persian Gulf.

“Russia is winning the Iran-U.S.-Israel war, at least so far. Oil and natural gas prices have soared, filling Putin’s Ukraine war chest,” he said. “Russia is gathering forces for a big spring offensive in Eastern Ukraine, and it’s not even front-page news.”

Ukraine has dispatched drone interceptors and ordered its anti-drone experts to pivot from their war with Russia to help Western allies help intercept Iranian attacks. Zelensky’s allegiance may not pay off, English said.

“When will Ukraine see the benefits of helping the U.S. with anti-drone technology? No time soon, apparently,” he said.

Even several weeks of interruption in Gulf energy supplies could bring the largest windfall to Russia, the Associated Press reported, citing energy analysts.

The economic turmoil caused by the war has exposed vulnerabilities in Europe’s energy system, particularly its lingering dependence on Russian fuel.

Despite sanctions, the European Union remains a major purchaser of Russian natural gas and crude oil. Russian gas accounted for approximately 19% of E.U. gas imports in 2025. Allied Europeans have agreed to completely stop importing Russian liquefied natural gas, oil and pipeline gas by late 2027.

Putin expressed no desire Monday to rescue the European market now that U.S.-Israeli escalations and Iranian retaliation have choked oil production and shipping. The Russian president instead proposed to divert volumes away from the European market “to more promising areas” like the Asia-Pacific region, Slovakia and Hungary, which he said were “reliable counterparties.”

European leaders have been criticized for being “stunned, sidelined, and disunited” since hostilities began in late February. Excluded from the initial military planning by the U.S. and Israel, Europe entered the conflict with gas storage at only 30% capacity, the lowest levels in years. Instead of bold action, English said, European leaders have quarreled over internal divisions and rivalries.

“Sky-high energy prices are the underlying cause of many of these frictions, as Europe struggles now more than ever to find affordable alternatives to the cheap Russian petroleum,” English said.

Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, told European leaders in Brussels on Tuesday that rising energy prices and the world’s shifting attention risk strengthening the Kremlin at a critical moment in the war in Ukraine.

“So far, there is only one winner in this war,” Costa said. “Russia.”

Ukrainian and Russian officials have claimed battlefield successes in the more than four-year war, as Russian air attacks on Ukraine continue.

At least four people were killed in Russian attacks on the Ukrainian town of Sloviansk, regional authorities said on Tuesday.

The governor of Sloviansk, Vadym Filashkin, confirmed the death toll on Tuesday and said 16 others were wounded, including a 14-year-old girl. He said Russian forces dropped three guided bombs on the city.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the attack.

Overnight drone strikes on three other Ukrainian cities wounded at least 17 people, including two children, emergency services said.

Ukraine’s air force said that it shot down 122 out of 137 drones that Russia launched during the night.

Warring parties claim advances

Ukrainian forces have recently retaken nearly all the territory of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk industrial region during a counteroffensive, driving Russian troops out of more than 400 square kilometres (150sq miles), Major-General Oleksandr Komarenko said in an interview published Tuesday by local media outlet RBC-Ukraine.

He described the overall situation on the front line as difficult but under control, with the heaviest fighting continuing near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine and Oleksandrivka in the south, where he said Russian forces have concentrated their main effort.

There was no independent verification of his description of the military situation.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Monday that recent Ukrainian counterattacks “are generating tactical, operational and strategic effects that may disrupt Russia’s spring-summer 2026 offensive campaign plan”.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian forces have extended their gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, whose capture Moscow has made one of the goals of its invasion. Ukraine controlled about 25 percent of the Donbas six months ago, but it now holds just 15-17 percent, Putin said.

In Russia, the governor of the border region Bryansk, said a Ukrainian missile strike on Bryansk city had killed at least six people and wounded 37 others.

Alexander Bogomaz said those killed were civilians and that the wounded were admitted to the Bryansk Regional Hospital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack hit a Russian missile plant.

At the same time, a United Nations investigation found that the deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 had amounted to “crimes against humanity”.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and five other Russian officials in 2023 over the alleged illegal deportation of children, which Moscow denies and said it has been evacuating people voluntarily from a warzone.

Trilateral talks ‘next week’

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff told the CNBC news outlet on Tuesday that the next round of trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US would likely be “sometime next week”.

Trilateral talks were first held in January in the United Arab Emirates; a second meeting was held in February in Geneva, Switzerland. Last year, Russia and Ukraine also held three rounds of talks in Turkiye, yet so far the two countries remain no closer to a deal as key issues, including Russia’s control of Ukrainian territory, are yet to be resolved.

Moscow has repeatedly said it would only agree to a deal that allows it to retain the territories it has seized, while Ukraine has said its territory must be returned in any deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Turkiye was prepared to host the next round of trilateral talks after speaking with his Turkish counterpart, President Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv could provide defensive systems as well as assistance to civilians and American soldiers “deployed in certain countries” in the Middle East as the war in Iran continues.

He has reportedly proposed an exchange of Ukrainian defensive technology to combat Iranian drones in return for advanced US defensive systems to use in the war against Russia.

The US-Israel-Iran conflict, which started 10 days ago when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran and killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has continued to escalate. Iran has responded with strikes on Israel and US military assets and other infrastructure in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

As Gulf and other Middle Eastern states continue to attempt to intercept incoming drones and missiles with US-supplied air defences, the US has asked Ukraine to contribute some of its own air-defence systems.

Here is what we know.

What has the US requested from Ukraine and why?

The US has asked for Ukraine’s help in defending Washington’s allies in the Middle East against Iranian missile attacks on infrastructure and US military assets, Ukraine’s president confirmed last week.

At the moment, the US is using air defence systems such as the Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeting its military assets in the region. The Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) and PAC-3 are advanced surface-to-air missile defence systems.

However, these types of systems are extremely expensive, costing millions of dollars for each interceptor missile fired, and there are concerns that supplies of US interceptor missiles could run low.

“We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against ‘shaheds’ in the Middle East region,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post on March 5.

Shahed drones, particularly the Shahed-136, are Iranian-designed “kamikaze” or loitering munitions which are very low cost compared to the interceptors being used by the US. Costing roughly $20,000-$35,000 each, these GPS-guided drones are about 3.5m (11.5 feet) long and fly autonomously to pre-programmed coordinates to strike fixed targets with explosive payloads. They blow up as they hit their targets.

Over the course of the Iran war, Shahed-136 drones have targeted Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE where US military assets and troops are hosted. Experts estimate that Iran has thousands of these drones.

Iran has also been supplying Moscow with many thousands of Shahed drones during Russia’s war on Ukraine.

During the course of Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, Ukraine’s domestic arms industry has been forced to innovate, building low-cost interceptor drones priced at roughly $1,000 to $2,000 to counter Russian attacks with imported Iranian Shahed-136s.

Kyiv is now mass-producing these low-cost interceptor drones.

“The role of Shahed-type drones in long-range attacks has become more prominent in Ukraine after Russia took Iranian technology, improved it, and built it in previously unimaginable numbers,” Keir Giles, a Eurasia expert for the UK-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.

What has Zelenskyy said?

Zelenskyy has posted several statements on social media confirming that he is ready to help Middle Eastern countries defend their territories by providing technical expertise.

“Ukrainians have been fighting against ‘shahed’ drones for years now, and everyone recognises that no other country in the world has this kind of experience. We are ready to help,” he wrote on X on March 5.

“I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security.

“Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people.”

It is understood that Ukraine is in talks with several Middle Eastern countries about this.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has deployed interceptor drones and a team of specialists to help protect US military bases in Jordan.

Zelenskyy wrote on X that he has also spoken directly to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) about “countering threats from the Iranian regime”.

He also said he had spoken with the leaders of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine must not weaken its own air defences. However, it is mass-producing this equipment now, and may well be able to afford to share.

“The fact that there are surplus capabilities ready to be sent to the US and the Middle East is unsurprising because Ukraine has led this innovation,” Giles said.

Zelenskyy has therefore proposed an exchange of air defence systems with the US ones being used in the Middle East.

“We ourselves are at war. And I said, completely frankly, that we have a shortage of what they have. They have missiles for the Patriots, but hundreds or thousands of ‘shaheds’ cannot be intercepted with Patriot missiles – it is too costly,” Zelenskyy said.

“Meanwhile, we have a shortage of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles. So, when it comes to technology or weapons exchange, I believe our country will be open to it.”

Zelenskyy may also have good political reasons for extending help, analysts say.

“The US has declined support for Ukraine on the ground that it had insufficient supply of air defence munitions, and now more of those Patriots have been fired in the Middle East in a few days, than have been supplied to Ukraine in four years,” Giles said.

“Zelenskyy will be aware that in providing this assistance, he is not only shaming the US, but also directly supporting potential friends and partners in the Middle East, who before now have been ambivalent to the situation in Ukraine,” Giles said.

Who else has sent defensive backup to the Gulf?

European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy have pledged to provide defensive backup to Gulf nations over the past week. Additionally, Australia said it was deploying military assets to the region.

Wary of becoming directly involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran, European countries have nevertheless been drawn into the conflict by attacks on a British base on Cyprus in the Mediterranean and Iranian strikes on Western allies in Gulf countries that host US troops in military bases.

What will happen next?

Just as Ukraine is getting involved in the war, Russia might too, say experts.

“We should not be surprised if before long, as well as Russian technology in Iranian drones, we see Iran launching Shaheds manufactured in Russia,” Giles said.

He described Russia as a “primary beneficiary of current US actions,” pointing to how the surge in oil prices, the relaxation in US curbs on Russian energy exports to keep crude and gas prices under control, and the diversion of air defence munitions from Europe to the Middle East all helped Moscow. These, he said, “are all lifelines for Russia”.